Chugging It to the Finish Line

And so it was exactly as predicted. The Lakers finally succumbed to the grueling schedule of the last two weeks and saw their seven game winning streak come to an end in Utah. It was a tough break to roll in there at the end of this stretch of games, because it always takes every ounce of energy you have to beat a Sloan team and we just didn’t have enough left in the tank tonight. Kobe’s 37 couldn’t even stave off the loss, although he did his level best to propel us into the All-Star break on 8-0.

I’m sort of cheating on this one, because I’ve only watched until halfway through the third quarter, but I have to go to bed and needed to know the result. It was disappointing but expected, and I won’t lose any sleep over it. I thought our redemption might come through the fact that the Jazz were beating us, through most of the first half, from perimeter jumpers – lots of threes from the guards and outside shots from Okur in particular (have I mentioned our Achilles heel before?). I kept saying to myself, “They can’t keep shooting this well.” But they did. Utah finished the game shooting 58.6%, which means an epic fail on our part. They are a good, well-coached team, but 60%? I don’t think so. We were obviously gassed, but if we could have knuckled down for just a couple extra possessions we could have gotten the job done. It’s not really our character, though, and when you’re tired you generally revert to square one, which for us means zero defense. It cost us tonight, but I don’t suspect it will carry much further than the occasional loss at the end of a road trip. C’est la vie.

I only have two more things to say:

Thank god the break is finally here. Couldn’t come at a better time. Now if only we didn’t have anyone important playing this weekend…

Deron Williams is the fucking man. Him and Paul both being the Western Conference is like the year The Nightmare Before Christmas went up against Jurassic Park for best special effects in the Oscars. Any other year, that sucker was a shoe-in and deserved the honor, but the competition was just of a different – not necessarily better – quality and took it from ’em. I can’t honestly say who’s better or more important to his team, but in any sane universe Williams would be an All-Star, and a starter at that. Jameer Nelson and Devin Harris have made good cases for themselves this year, but no one is on the level of Williams, Paul, and Parker. Sucks (or perhaps figures) that they all reside on the West Side. (“Cuz you and I know it’s the best side.”)

For what it’s worth, here are the first half highlights. It was all I could find…